Amityville. The name of this small town thirty kilometers from New York is known not only in the United States, but also far beyond the borders of America. But the prestigious âfor the richâ region was not glorified by a successful billionaire or a major scientist. Amityville became famous thanks to the Hight Hopes mansion - an ominous house where the American killer Ronald Defeo killed his family.
This bloody story that destroyed the quiet life of the quiet town of Amityville, happened back in the 70s of the twentieth century. Since then, the three-story mansion has become a favorite destination for tourists who love the horror genre, as well as various psychics, mediums, clairvoyants who seek to confirm rumors of supernatural manifestations in this house.
The killer Ronald Defeo, Jr. is still alive. While in prison, he gave interviews more than once, giving out the most unexpected versions of the events of that November night. The crime itself, which was committed by Ronald Defeo, managed to become a "city legend", overgrown with rumors, speculation and "new facts and versions that have appeared." Interest in the scary âhouse in Amityville does not diminish because the bloody story became the basis for the book and the plot of several feature films. Now that several decades have passed, the speculations of writers and directors are firmly entwined with the official facts of the investigation into the murder of the Defoe family.
So who was Ronald Defeo (Jr.)? Could he have committed the killing of several people alone? And what events preceded the fact that Ronald Defeo Jr. in November 1974 shot his entire family with his rifle?
Parents Defeo
Ronald's future parents were an outwardly beautiful couple, despite the fact that they belonged to different "sections of society." Mother, Louise Mary Brigante, came from the family of a successful businessman and dreamed of a career in the modeling business. The young beauty was not even twenty years old when she met her peer Ronald Joseph Defeo (senior). The decision to get married provoked a protest from Louise's parents, who completely interrupted communication with their daughter and son-in-law. The "ice melted" only when on September 26, 1951, the first spouse had a first child - Ronald Defeo Jr.
After the birth of the grandson, Louise's father, Michael Briganthe, accepted Ronald Sr. to work in his company, and later, a few years later, he helped the Defoe family buy a house in the prestigious Amityville.
Childhood in brooklyn
It is widely believed that it was childhood and parents in the first place that influenced how the future "famous" killer Ronald Defeo grew up. His biography begins in Brooklyn, not the richest New York area. The first years of life of Ronald Defeo Jr. cloudless and happy can hardly be called. According to the testimonies of relatives and friends of the Defeo family, the upbringing that the father applied to his eldest son was reduced to severe beatings for any fault. Louise couldnât or didnât want to change anything regarding her father and son, according to rumors, Defeo the elder beat her too.
Constant stress and ill-treatment of his father affected Ronald's appearance and health, both physical and mental. The boy was withdrawn and also suffered from excess weight.
School and classmates
As often happens, Ronald DeFeau, who was beaten at home, was also the target of attacks by other children at school. First, the boy was teased, because of his extra weight, his classmates came up with the nickname "pork chop." About whether Defoe had friends in elementary school, nothing is known. Bullying and attacks on Ronald lasted several years. Everything changed when the teenager Ronald not only grew up and got stronger, but also became addicted to drugs. Now he became a "problem" for those around him.
Butch and amphetamines
Drugs taken by high school student Ronald Defeo made the teenager aggressive. Sometimes he had real bouts of furious rage. Of course, no one dared to tease him with the chop, especially since drug addiction made him thin. The teenager, who received the new nickname Butch, has now ceased to be a victim. He rebuffed the aggressive behavior of Ronald Sr.. The slightest reason was enough to arrange a real fist fight with his father.
Then the parents turned to a psychiatrist for advice in order to somehow curb the aggressive and uncontrollable Butch. The visit to the doctor did not give any results - Ronald Jr. sharply refused the help of a psychiatrist. The family had to find a new way to manage a drug addict teenager - money. The younger Defoe regularly received expensive gifts and money from his father from his father. Relatives often just remembered a âroyalâ gift to their fourteen-year-old son from a âloving fatherâ - a motor boat that cost decent money for that time, about fifteen thousand dollars.
Children of the Defeo Family
Despite family problems and rude aggressive behavior of Defeo Sr., four more children were born in the family: two daughters, Down Teresa (1956) and Allison Louise (1961) and sons Mark Gregory (1962) and John Matthew (1965).
The murderer Ronald Defeo, Jr., already serving a prison term, said in an interview that his parents had problems not only with him, but also with his younger sister Down. Tough "educational methods" of the father extended to her too. In addition, apparently, Down Theresa inherited the heavy disposition of Ronald the Elder. Butch claims that the sister hated their father so much that she even once threatened him with a kitchen knife during an argument.
Later, all four children of the Defeo family will be shot dead with their parents. But at the same time, the death of Butch's brothers and sisters is the most controversial. According to close friends and relatives, the children were quite friendly - everyone noticed the affection Ronald DeFeo had for the younger âdifficult teenagerâ (photo of Ronald and Louise Defeo's children, taken in Amityville).
Prestigious Amityville
Moving to the town of Amityville, a quiet place for wealthy families, was preceded by several events atypical for the Defeo family lifestyle. Tired of the beating and explosive nature of her husband, Louise Briganthe decided to leave after the birth of her fourth child, Mark Gregory. This made Ronald Sr. change his attitude towards his wife. To return Louise, Defeo even wrote a song for her, which he later sang and recorded for the album, Joe Williams, the then-popular jazzman. After the reconciliation, the couple changed the old house in Brooklyn to a three-story mansion "Great Hopes" (Hight Hopes) in the town of Amityville. Their fifth and last child was born there.
Their seemingly decent life was now overshadowed by the behavior of their first-born Defoe, Jr. Finally addicted to drugs, seventeen-year-old Butch left school, relations with his father became worse day by day. Things increasingly came to clarify the relationship "on the fists." The situation did not even save Ronaldâs employment at Buickâs grandfather car company, where his father already worked. Butch carried out simple orders, and, occasionally, did not appear in the office for several days.
Ronald DeFeo and outside the family home was outrageous. The young man had many unpleasant âhobbiesâ besides drugs: the purchase of firearms, promiscuous connections with women, petty thefts. The latter is more than strange, because Butch did not really need money - his father continued to support him, giving Ronald weekly $ 500.
Last year of the Defeo family
The events of the last months of the life of the Defeo family, before the bloody November night of 1974, seemed to portend a terrible denouement. The fascination with weapons and hunting Defoe Jr. began to pose a real danger to others. Even his friends recall the cases when he "jokingly" aimed at someone. One day, Ronald took his parents at gunpoint to stop the quarrel between them, and pulled the trigger. The shot at that time did not happen only by accident, the gun misfired.
A week before the shooting of the family in the Hight Hopes mansion, Ronald, not embarrassed to take and spend family money from home, went on a crime by appropriating the money to the company in which he worked. When Defoe Jr. was instructed to take a large sum, more than 20 thousand, to the bank, Butch simply âdidnât get the moneyâ, claiming that he was robbed. Despite the refusal to help investigate the "robbery," the police found out that the money had been appropriated by Butch and his friend. For this misconduct, Ronald did not receive any punishment again, but this infuriated the older Defeo. Father and son had a big fight, while Ronald the elder shouted that âthe devil is behindâ Ronald, to which his son threatened to kill his parent, calling him âa fat freak.â These words then often sounded in court from the prosecution.
Murder and Investigation
The Defoe family (parents and four younger children) was brutally murdered on the night of November 13, 1974. Acquaintances and colleagues who saw Ronald that day recall that his day passed almost like always. He came to work unusually early, but explained this by the fact that he suffered from insomnia and decided to leave early, leaving the house at about 4 in the morning. Then Butch acted as if nothing had happened. During the day, he called home several times to find out why his father had not come to work. And at the same time he was very âsurprisedâ that the houses did not answer the calls. Butch spent the evening having fun with his friends, as usual, drinking alcohol and drugs.
After the âparty,â Ronald went to the family mansion, but soon ran to the âHenry Barâ, located on the corner of the street, a few meters from the house, screaming that his whole family was shot.
Police officers who examined the house that evening found six dead bodies lying in their beds. Both parents received two shots from a Marlin 336C hunting rifle, each of the children was killed with one shot. The following seemed strange: all the bodies were lying on their stomach, dressed in pajamas. None of them woke up and tried to get up, run away or hide. Initially, detectives decided that sleeping pills were added to all family members, but the examination did not confirm this version.
Crime version
At the very beginning of the investigation into the brutal murder of members of the Defoe family, police detectives did not even consider the eldest son as a suspect. After a brief interrogation in the kitchen, Ronaldâs mansion was taken under police protection as a valuable witness. Of course, for the neighbors and all the acquaintances the hostility, almost the hostility between father and son were not a secret. But all the witnesses confirmed that the other members of the family, especially the younger children, Defeo was very warm, with love. For this reason, it seemed so incredible that a young man could have committed such a crime.
Thanks primarily to the testimony of Ronald, the detectives appeared and the suspect. He became a close friend of Ronald Sr., who even lived for some time in an amivitil family mansion, an American of Italian descent named Louis Falini. Butch stated that his father helped Falini, a local mafia member, hide his looted property in the basement of Defeo's house. The police had a version that the Italian shot the whole family as witnesses.
But with a careful inspection of the house, an unexpected find appeared - a box from the Butlin-owned Marlin 336C rifle. Having come under suspicion, Ronald changed his testimony about that terrible night. He claimed that Louis Falini and an unknown Mafiosi accomplice woke him up around four in the morning and, threatening with a pistol, took a rifle from which they killed all family members. After they left, Butch said, in desperation, he destroyed evidence, getting rid of cartridges and weapons. The latest version was completely implausible and caused a lot of questions, which Butch could not answer.
The detectives conducting the investigation lost their last doubts that it was Ronald DeFeo who killed his family. Butch soon confessed. The killer described in detail how he alone first shot his parents, and then his sisters and brothers from his rifle, washed thoroughly, washing off traces of blood, as he hid all the evidence, a rifle, cartridges and clothes stained with blood, drowning everything in a Brooklyn sewer.
Trial of Ronald
Despite the killerâs recognition, all the details of the crime were established for a rather long time; the trial began almost a year after the murder, on September 14th. The main argument, which Butch's lawyer relied on, was the statement about the insanity of the killer - Ronald claimed that he was ordered to shoot his relatives by the âvoicesâ that he heard in his own head. But after an examination by a forensic psychiatrist, it was concluded that, despite a mild disorder and drug addiction, Defeo is quite sane.
After that, neither cooperation with the investigation, nor a word about repentance and regret helped Ronaldo. Ronald Joseph Defeo Jr. was found guilty of killing six people and received a total of 150 years in prison, 25 for each victim. All subsequent applications for the release of the "famous" killer, filed to date, have consistently been rejected. Today, Ronald Defeo Jr. (photo below, 2015) is located in Green Haven (the city of Beekman) - one of the New York State Correctional Facilities.
A lone psychopath or a gang of killers?
Most experts in criminology and simply outside researchers of the events of that night of 1974 agree that many more unexplained facts remained in the execution of the Defoe family. In addition to the fact that none of the neighbors heard a single shot during the murder, and all the children, after the shots in the parent's bedroom, did not even try to get out of bed and leave the house, another circumstance was revealed. A specialist hired by Michael Brigante concluded that the Defeo family was shot at least with two guns. This gave reason to state that Ronald did not act alone.
However, this fact, which emerged during the trial, did not affect the verdict in any way, and Ronald himself made the first statement on this subject only 10 years later. Defeo Jr. said that Louise Brigante participated in the execution of the family. This version was rejected as ridiculous.
In 2002, the book The Night the DeFeos died was published, whose author, Rick Osuna, interviewed Ronald. The Amityville story is described as follows: there were four murderers - Ronald, his two friends and Down Theresa, and the sister, according to DeFeo, offered to kill her family. And it was she, according to Ronald, who shot the younger children, whom they had not originally planned to kill. Thus, Ronald pleaded guilty to only three deaths - the parents and the âkiller sisterâ Down. In favor of this version, Ronald brought some controversial evidence. Interviewing those same friends who allegedly took part in the murder was impossible at that time - the first of them died. And the second was under a witness protection program in a different case.
Amityville City Legend
The appearance of a halo of mysticism around the history of the Defeo family and the Hight Hopes mansion was facilitated by the following owners of the house in Amityville. Spouses Katie and George Lutz bought a house almost a year after the crime. Within a month, the Lutz family left the mansion in a great hurry, informing the public about unusual events taking place in the Hight Hopes. The clairvoyant reputation of the mansion was constantly reinforced by clairvoyants and mediums who were constantly âconducting researchâ at home, all of whom claimed that paranormal phenomena occur at the site of the Defeo familyâs death.
All this created the mystical urban legend âThe Amityville Horrorâ, which inspired writers and screenwriters to create works in the âhorrorâ genre. Moreover, the rights to the film version of this story belong to the enterprising George Lutz.
Books and filmography
As already mentioned, the main "character" of the entire history of Defeo Jr. is still alive. He is serving a sentence in prison, was married three times and eagerly gives interviews and puts forward new versions. Despite the negative reputation that Ronald Defeo earned, his biography became the plot for the book of Rick Osuna, which was mentioned earlier.
Back in 1977, the novel by Jay Anson, The Amityville Horror, was written. The plot was based on the stories of the Lutz family about the paranormal nature of the house. The book was a success, but the really popular story of the Defoe mansion, and with it Ronald himself, was made into a film adaptation.
The first film, The Amityville Horror, burst onto the big screen in 1979. After that, several films were made - sequels, no longer on the "real" scary events. In fact, only the remake of âHorrorâ, released in 2005, was able to repeat the success of the first film.